Adept Play
Adept Play
Category: Seminar
What is this table-top role-playing thing? How does it work, what does it do, what kind of designs do which things? I’ve got some ideas, and so do you. This is where we talk about it! You’ll see conversations, presentations, interviews, and essays.
All the posts here present a concept, game title, or a historical hobby event for discussion, so please comment at any of them. Be sure to review the Site Etiquette & Best Practices available at the bottom of the page.
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Lincon 2023
Where I played Darkurthe Legends and Spione (slated for upcoming Actual Play posts), and encountered lots of contact among people I knew and others that I didn’t. My schedule for the rest of the year is looking pretty full! I also presented a workshop, perhaps playfully titled “Our role-playing, ourselves.” Although it borrows from a…
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The Erasmus Project experience 2023
I did not title this post “When in Rome.” Please credit this on my karmic record. Near the end of 2022, I received an invitation from Marco Mengoli to visit and teach at the Instituto di Itruzione Superiore “Roselli,” in Aprilia, a suburb of Rome. Several faculty at this school including Marco study and teach…
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Situated characters
[This post is adapted from a Patreon post a couple of months ago. It’s relevant to the March Q&A so I’ve made it public here.] I’ve been thinking about a practical aspect of preparation which feeds into qualities of play. It boils down to a simple question: does whoever’s making up important aspects of the…
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April 2023 Q&A
[image by Jennell Jacquays, from Cults of Terror] We’re into questions that wouldn’t be possible without many of the exchanges and developments carried out through the past couple of years. There’s a historical look at Arkat and Nysalor/Gbaji, who may even perhaps have escaped over-canonizing, a follow-up on last month’s Patreon post about characters and…
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Normal People
On the discord, Sam said: “I am yearning for a game where it would be out of the ordinary to see a fist fight, let alone someone die. I think I want to play a game about ordinary people doing things no one could possibly call an adventure. What games have you played that do…
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Gothcon 2023
Where I’ll be leading two workshops and two games, in addition to the pick-up play and discussion shenanigans that I always get into at these things. That’s why I’ve been shoddy about posting and commenting lately, to get ready for this. Also for my role-playing teaching trip to Rome the week afterwards, which is other…
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March 2023 Q&A
Even a couple of questions can go pretty deep. There’s a solid look at initiative and order during confrontations, and some development of the “reverse mullet” problem observed in many role-playing texts. Please check out the attached file to see our discussion at the Patreon. Sean identifies the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition /…
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Inclusive Design
Here’s an interview with me and Thomas Munier, who has been developing materials and ideas in the Francophone-Anglophone overlap. The title term is his, and its meaning is quite broad. He prepared the ground as follows: I would say that there are three parts to deal with which show an approach to inclusive design which…
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Games & Systems: My Thoughts
I worked my way through both the post by (on) Liber Ludorum and the original post by Linda Codega, both of which I have linked. Codega’s post is on Gizmodo and by definition is more focused / influenced / to be read in as commentary on more commercial ventures. Whereas LL’s post moves further afield…